The JourneyMy name is Ellak von Nagy-Felsobuki and I am an Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle (Australia). I am opening Marie-Therese’s exhibition today at Megalo Print Studio & Gallery in Canberra (Australia) as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd. Its education division is Art Quill Studio, where Marie-Therese is its Director and the principal resident artist. The other Directors have charged me to speak today.

Over the years I have got to know Marie-Therese’s prints on paper and cloth. Today’s exhibition - “The Journey” - features a retrospective of her prints as well as current prints on paper that is illustrative of Marie-Therese Wisniowski’s socio-political footprint. I will highlight only some of the techniques and talk about some of the selected prints on paper that are exhibited here today.

Tam Calderwood, Marie-Therese Wisniowski and Gerlinde Calderwood at the opening.

Fellow printmaker - Rachel Burgess - has written in her article for “Imprint” magazine that Marie-Therese’s prints in terms of their socio-political content are reminiscent of works produced by the print collectives in the 1970s - such as Earthworks Poster Company and Redback Graphix. However, unlike prints produced by these latter companies, Marie-Therese has brought these subjects back into the fold of limited edition artworks.

Marie-Therese wants to develop a dialogue with you - the viewer - and to do so she employs an iconic language, not unlike the Chinese pictograms and Egyptian hieroglyphs (see some of the artistic marks in the backgrounds of most of her prints). That is, she presents you with iconic crosswords, clues, hints - and your job is to do the unraveling. The unraveling brings forth a socio-political stance – maybe not your stance. However, in doing so she has sharpened your understanding of your own set of beliefs. Marie-Therese has therefore engaged you in a democratic process – an argument for some or re-affirmation for others.

Veiled Curtains, Cultural Graffiti V, and The Decades Fine-Art Print series at the exhibition.

She is not only an ArtCloth artist, but also a master printmaker. Take a look at the borders of the Federation On Hold - series in which she has developed a silkscreen technique she coined “multiplexing”. Successive overlays of different transparent inks and resists create a painterly quality. She has employed the same technique in Veiled Curtains and in Whose Church?”

In “Cultural Graffiti V” she has developed another silkscreen technique called “matrix formatting”. Here a number of images have been spliced together to form a matrix. The base unit is overlaid by the components of the matrix. This gives the print an underlining symmetry, which projects a real sense of vibrancy.

Cultural Graffiti V (Fine-Art print on paper version).
See - Cultural Graffiti Series - for both ArtCloth and Prints On Paper Versions.

Marie-Therese often utilizes digital images of her ArtCloths in her fine-art prints on paper artworks. For example, she uses a deconstructed screen technique on cloth developed by Kerr Grabowski – called “deconstructed screenprinting” – in which thickened dyes are applied to the silkscreen, dried, and printed off with print paste creating disintegrating organic effects as the dye is being dissolved. The images are printed on the cloth, then digitally photographed and so form part of a background in her paper print artworks. This merging of cloth techniques on her paper prints can be seen in the “Wish You Were Where?” series and in many of the background images in the artist printmaker’s book – Not In My Name

Now what about the content of her work? In the collagraph prints - Cry for the Wilderness - she investigates the disconnection of wilderness areas and portrays them as isolated pockets managed poorly by humanity. Her concern for the environment is played again and again in such series as - “Wish You Were Where?” - which is a deconstructed work, where she explores the ramifications in human costs of global warming.

As a scientist I am very comfortable with genetically modified food, but it is clear that Marie-Therese is not. She engages you in a dialogue in which you must sharpen your argument if you are to be believed. For example, in “Made to Order III” she puzzles about the insertion of a gene in the tomato DNA that will sweeten the tomato (without any need for labeling) due to our pre-disposition for sweeter food. Is one component in the rise in Stage II diabetes, she poses, due to the increased consumption of sugar from a variety of sources including from un-natural sweetened tomatoes? She raises the argument by claiming that not all consequences or outcomes of genetically modified foods may be knowable (editor: re analog version - the introduction of the cane toad in Australia to handle one pest just created another - the cane toad - that adapted unpredictably too well on the Australian continent and so cause mass destruction of many native species. A scientific case of "Oops - we got it wrong!")

In Federation on Hold Marie-Therese has mapped the four main issues of 2001 (celebrating 100 years of the Australian Federation) back to Australian Prime Ministers of the past and present and these were: Reconciliation (Barton), Poverty (Scullin), The Republic (Menzies) and Refugees (Howard). She questions whether in the first 100 years of the Australian Federation anything of significance has really been accomplished in these four critical socio-political areas.

In Veiled Curtains she employs a clever omission. Every orchestra conductor will tell you that the great composers know all about musical notes, but they also know where to place silences. Here Marie-Therese has confronted us with three notes and one silence. The three notes are of course women leaders: (i) in a Muslim society (Bhuto); (ii) in a Hindu society (Ghandi); (iii) in a Buddhist society (Aung San Suu Kyi). The silence is the lack of a Christian woman leader. When she created these prints Maggie Thatcher was well known to her. The lack of a woman leader from a Christian society informs us by its omission that the West does not have a mortgage in propelling women into the leadership group of their society.

Her unframed prints – “The Decades” - shows how she feels political events have unfolded over the past fifty or so years. It is clear that they were dominated by the baby boomers. It was the baby boomers that in the 1960s used their music to express and then foster their political and individual dissent upon governments. It was the baby boomers in the 1970s that developed a social consciousness and wanted wealth to be more evenly spread (John Travolta played a poor kid making good in ‘Grease’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’). By the 1980s and 1990s, it was the baby boomers that introduced democracies to closed societies in order to open them up. For example, dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and El Salvador all but vanished. There was 50 or so years of accepted defiance. And then there was 9/11, after which defiance became too deadly an affair for baby boomers to accept. It is the baby boomers that are now demanding compliance.

The Decades: The 90s - Defiance.

I have not the time to reach out and talk about all of her prints exhibited here - no one should stand for too long between you and your wine! Nevertheless, I want to refer now to her artist printmaker’s book entitled “Not in My Name”. This project shows Marie-Therese’s compassion as a human being. It is a book about her opposition to the war in Iraq, but that would just be a superficial take on it. It is a book against all wars and so it focuses on the victims of war. She wrote her opposition in verse and did her prints in a digital format (relying on her digitized ArtCloth prints to fill the background of some of those images). You might not agree with her stance, but that's okay, for we do live in a democracy.

There is one poem and print called “Her Death”, which is exhibited here today. It could have been a Jewish woman and her child, a Hindu woman and her child, a Buddhist woman and her child, a Christian woman and her child, but it happens to be a converted Muslim woman and her child. Each time this book has been exhibited, this one print has been defaced. I guess the ending of the poem and the angelic face of the unknown victim was too much for some to bear. The last line of the poem - Her Death - reads:

“Bodies hurled, her senses furled, within one scream was her death”.

Let us hope that this print will not be defaced in Canberra (Australia).

Marie-Therese is more than happy to talk to anyone here about her techniques and her work. Please make good on her offer.

Finally, let me thank on behalf of Art Quill Studio and its parent company Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd, Megalo Print Studio & Gallery and in particular, Peter Zanetti, Anita Reynolds, Emma Rees and Cecile Galiazzo for helping Marie-Therese in supporting her studio work at Megalo and in assisting her to present this exhibition here in Canberra (Australia).

Saturday, July 23, 2011

PreambleThe ArtCloth diptych - "Flames Unfurling...Life Returning" - was exhibited at the "Transformation: An Exhibition of Contemporary Textile" (see below) as well as in several other exhibitions. For you convenience I have given a link to the post below:Flames Unfurling...Life Returning

Deborah Segaert, the editor of one of Australia’s exciting new magazines for fibers, yarns and textiles, “Down Under Textiles” magazine invited me to write a feature article for the Gallery section of the magazine.

The article, “Melding Landscapes”, has been published in the June 2011, No. 5 Issue of Down Under Textiles. It discusses my background, my textile art practice and philosophical approaches, plus the history of and technical information about my signature MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS) technique employing disperse dyes that is the basis of the diptych.

The magazine is available from specialist outlets and is also available via subscription. There are of course a lot of other interesting articles and artists included in the issue.

You can also see more images of Marie-Therese’s MSDS ArtCloth works and those of her students by typing - MSDS Disperse Dyes - in the "Search" panel on this blogspot.

The following is a synopsis of the other invited artists and their artworks, which featured in the “Transformation” exhibition.

Transformation. An Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles"Transformation. An Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles" was curated by Helen Lancaster and exhibited at the Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Sydney between the 20th May - 3rd July 2011. Helen invited over thirty contemporary textile artists from all over Australia to interpret another challenging theme, “Transformation”.

A conceptual environmentalist and an articulate and passionate artist, Helen reminisced about recent transformations that have occurred in her catalogue address:
“Natural disasters, monetary problems, return of diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, refugees fleeing so many dictatorships, and of course climate change, seem just a few of the things affecting the world with gloom.

A Royal Wedding with all its traditional pageantry has presented us with a fairy tale. Wonderful new discoveries such as restoring sight, one day hip replacement with key-hole surgery, exploration of the oceans (with literally millions of creatures never seen before) etc. will help to restore the balance.”

With such wide-ranging topics, interpretations of the theme varied widely both conceptually and in the media chosen. As a result, the exhibition showcased the strength of the contemporary textile art movement in Australia. Employing a plethora of techniques such as knitting, felting, paper, plant or chemical dyes, hand and machine stitching, embellishing, etching, woodcuts, recycled materials, printing, gluing, painting, wrapping and manipulation, the artists pushed their individual interpretations into exciting, contemplative and thought provoking works. The exhibition included a variety of art forms including installation, sculpture and two-dimensional works.

The images below feature one selected work from each of the artists’ in the exhibition catalogue. The catalogue includes a preface by Jan Birmingham who gave the opening address, Curators address, images of the works, artists’ statements, size, techniques and materials of each work respectively.

The “Transformation” Exhibition Images

Transformation exhibition curator Helen Lancaster with her piece, The Wedding Cake, at the opening.

Jennifer Hawkins, We Used to Live in Trees.
Fiber optic stalks, feathers, Perspex.

Jennifer Hawkins, We Used to Live in Trees. Detail View.

Helen Lancaster, The Wedding Cake.
Machine embroidery, fabric manipulation, embellishment. A variety of materials have been combined on a box structure.

Helen Lancaster, The Wedding Cake. Detail View.

Maureen Locke-Maclean, Transition No.3.
In Japan Polygonum tinctorium is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant known as “dyer knotweed”, Chinese or Japanese indigo belonging to the large family of Polygonaceae. Indigo is a vat dye.

Irene Manion, Death and transfiguration.
Digitally developed image based on photographs and watercolors of the lorikeet. Dye sublimation print onto polyester fabric. Hand and machine embroidered using rayon threads.

Published in Studio La Primitive Arts Zine

Marie-Therese was invited by the editor of Studio La Primitive Arts Zine, Robyn Werkhoven, to be a 'Feature Artist' in the Arts Zine which features articles and interviews with national and international visual artists, poets and writers and glimpses into their world of art and their creative processes. The article, which features Marie-Therese’s art practice and career is titled, ' A Mapping of Anthropogenic Change' has been published in the May 2018 Issue 25 of the Studio La Primitive Arts Zine (the article appears on page 86). Click on the Image to get to the article.

2018 CrossXpollinatioN Exhibition - Journey's

Marie-Therese has been invited to be a 'Feature Artist' at the '2018 CrossXpollinatioN' exhibition which is themed 'Journey's'. Her ArtCloth Installation 'Timelines: An Environmental Journey' will be exhibited at the Colac Otway Performing Arts & Cultural Centre, Colac, Victoria from the 7th - 29th July 2018. The installation will feature works employing her signature MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS) technique on synthetic fibres.Click on the image to see how the Gondwana II was created.

Art Quill Studio @ Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair.

2018 Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair at the International Convention Centre, Sydney, from the 20th – 24th June.Art Quill Studio can be found at stand no. G29_LP1 where my unique and contemporary hand dyed, hand painted and hand printed ArtCloth fabric lengths, fat quarters, fabric samplers and scarves will be available as well as my one-off/limited edition digitally designed ArtCloth fabric lengths.Click on the image to view some of my fabric lengths and the techniques used to make them.

I have uploaded a new Glossary on my blogspot.The Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms is highly focused, containing definitions and terms pertinent to the specific categories in the title. Click on the image to access it!

About Me

I work full time as a studio artist, researcher, author, curator, speaker and tutor. I am also the Director of Art Quill Studio, The Education Division of Art Quill & Co. Pty. Ltd. at Arcadia Vale, NSW, Australia. I teach as a casual lecturer at The University of Newcastle (Australia) and I am the former co-editor of Textile Fibre Forum art magazine.

Employing my signature techniques I specialize in the area of ArtCloth, artist printmaker books and limited edition prints.

Followers

My Most Visited Posts"When Rainforests Ruled" - ArtCloth Exhibition

My Scarves @ The Australian Craft Awards

My unique, hand dyed and printed silk rayon velvet and pashmina scarves are available for purchase. To purchase a scarf please contact - studio@artquill.com.au.Click on the image above to see my velvet ArtCloth scarves.

Welcome to Art Quill Studio

Art Quill Studio is a trademark of Art Quill & Co P/L, which is an Australian Company with no subsidiaries outside of Australia.

This blog will be dedicated to arousing world wide interest in: (a) using the medium of cloth to create a work of art; (b) promoting works on paper; (c) exploring concepts that are the basis of my current artworks; (d) offering opinions on art issues; (e) providing art resources to the public at large.